Monday, November 18, 2013

A Step in the Write Direction, November 18, 2013--Are You Called to Write?

A
Step in the Write
Direction

November
18, 2013

Update:
As I shared in the chapter “Letting Go of Guilt” (The Freedom of Letting Go), I usually
don’t have a problem forgiving others for what they do. However, I had a problem
forgiving myself for things I had
done. I constantly played them over and over in my mind. One preacher told me
that was like crucifying Christ anew. Then one Sunday morning, just a few years
ago, while singing an old hymn in church—one I had sung hundreds of times
before—the words of the third verse hit me like a sledgehammer and I began
weeping with the freedom I finally found. I quote these words in the Song for Today, hoping they will bring
freedom to someone else struggling with the same problem.

Thought
for Today:
Everyone
has his own specific vocation mission in life; everyone must carry out a
concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. He cannot be replaced nor can his
life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity
to implement it (Victor Frankl).

Laugh for Today: The struggling writer was being dunned for his
rent by an impatient landlord."Let me
tell you this," he said. "Someday people will look up at this house and say,
'Cobalt, the author, used to write there.'"To which the landlord replied, "If you don't pay me the rent tonight,
they'll be saying that tomorrow."

Song for Today:

My sin—oh, the bliss of
this glorious tho’t!

My sin—not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to His cross and
I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the
Lord, O my soul!

(“It Is Well with My Soul,” Horatio
G. Spafford)

Writer’s Tips:

I,
therefore…beseech you to walk worthy of the calling to which you were
called.

—Ephesians
4:1 (nkjv)

You
know you’re called to write when:

·You’re
tired and want to go to bed but there’s something inside that must be put down
on paper.

·Unexpected
bills arise and you’re offered a good or better job, but you feel God wants you
to devote more time to writing.

·You’re
asked to be the neighborhood chauffeur or babysitter (because you’re home all
day), or the PTA public relations chairman (because you’re a writer), and you
have to say no because of your ache to write.

·None of
your family understands why you skip a favorite TV show and sit at your computer
for so long, sometimes with tears in your eyes.

·Money is
tight, but you feel led to take a writing course or attend a
conference.

·Your
favorite “inspired” article or book proposal is sent out 12 times and
returned 12 times with only a form letter, or no letter at all, but you send
it out again because you believe in it.

Then you must know that your writing is not just a hobby but a
calling. You’ll know it’s not the writing that’s important, but the
message you have to share. And you’ll know that it’s not you, but Christ who
lives in you (Galatians 2:20).

(Taken from the Introduction to A
Step in the Write Direction, now on sale for $15, $3 s&h. Student
edition, with assignments throughout, available for $10, $3
s&h.)

Don’t
forget Advent is coming up. Order the 31-devotional Preparing
Your Heart for Christmas for just
$7.)

Have a good week spreading
the

gospel
through the printed page.

Donna
Clark Goodrich

dgood648@aol.com

www.thewritersfriend.net

http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com

SALE: Books by Donna
Clark Goodrich

Will take IOUs or
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About Me

Donna Clark Goodrich, freelance writer, editor, and speaker is a wife, mother of three and grandmother of two. A native of Jackson, Michigan, she has lived in Mesa, Arizona, since 1969. She enjoys teaching at Christian writers conferences. Author of 23 books and over 700 published manuscripts, Donna says, “I write devotional and self-help books to encourage Christians in their daily walk with God, how-to books to train writers, biographies to tell other people's stories, short stories and poetry for readers' enjoyment, and personal experience articles to share how God has helped me through life situations.”
dgood648@aol.com; www.thewritersfriend.net